Lugansky - Rachmaninoff, 13 Preludes, Op. 32

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) 13 Preludes, Op. 32 (1910) Nikolai Lugansky, 2014 Festival de la Grange de Meslay [0:00] No. 1 in C major. Allegro vivace [1:26] No. 2 in B♭ minor. Allegretto [4:31] No. 3 in E major. Allegro vivace [6:54] No. 4 in E minor. Allegro con brio [12:26] No. 5 in G major. Moderato [15:39] No. 6 in F minor. Allegro appassionato [17:01] No. 7 in F major. Moderato [19:30] No. 8 in A minor. Vivo [21:20] No. 9 in A major. Allegro moderato [24:23] No. 10 in B minor. Lento [30:17] No. 11 in B major. Allegretto [32:48] No. 12 in G♯ minor. Allegro [35:25] No. 13 in D♭ major. Grave – Allegro “Unlike Chopin, Scriabin and even Shostakovich, Rachmaninov does not order his preludes systematically by keys. In fact it is not even clear precisely when he determined that he would complete a cycle of twenty-four, though he had evidently decided on that path when he came to compose the thirteen Preludes of his Op 32 in 1910. This was directly after his Piano Concerto No 3 (as before, there is a certain amount of overlap with the pianistic idiom of that work). Yet there are enough informal tonal relationships between consecutive Preludes—especially in the Op 32 collection, where eight of the preludes are paired by opposite modes—and enough variety in the succession of tempi and moods, to make performance of each set, or even of all twenty-four Preludes, as a unit a realistic option for any pianist intrepid enough to take it. […]” - David Fanning 2014 Festival de La Grange de Meslay -